$2.7 billion spent on Yucca study so far

You could build a lot of neat stuff with $2.7 billion.

You could erect two MGM Grand hotel-casinos and pocket $700 million, or make 13 clones of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. You also could construct 405 elementary schools at $7.5 million each.

The Department of Energy allocated $2.7 billion from 1983 through Dec. 31, 1997, to study the viability of Yucca Mountain as a repository for the nation's high-level nuclear waste. Estimates are it will take about $1.3 billion more to wrap up the study.

Energy Department officials such as spokesman Allen Benson of Las Vegas say the money has been worth it.

"This is the only way to prove if deep geologic disposal will work," Benson said. "We've learned a lot and we're pretty proud of the work we've done here. At this point in time, after spending money at this site, we've found nothing that would disqualify it."

But repository opponents say the project is a waste of money. A national coalition of environmental and taxpayer organizations included Yucca Mountain in its "Green Scissors '98" report of wasteful federal government programs.

"The Yucca Mountain high-level nuclear waste repository is plagued by multiple technical, environmental and cost barriers," the report stated. "Considering the Yucca Mountain project's estimated eventual cost of more than $34 billion, good money may be thrown after bad if scientifically credible procedures are not followed."

Staff scientist Anna Aurilio of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, an environmental and consumer watchdog group in New York City that co-authored the report, suggested "an independent review of nuclear waste policy that is based on sound science and public health."

Benson countered that such oversight already is in place. The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a panel of independent scientists appointed by the president, so far has found no major problems with Yucca Mountain. This comes despite claims from the anti-dump camp that the site is earthquake-prone, and that underground water could corrode a repository.

"Our primary concern is protection of people and the environment, and the only way to do that is to study the mountain," Benson said.

He added that the study is the "most overseen federal project in history by more people and more institutions."

Funding for the Yucca Mountain study, as other federal programs, has been slashed in recent years in an attempt to reduce the federal deficit. From a peak of $375 million in fiscal 1995, new money allocated for the study plummeted to $250 million in 1996, rose to $325 million in 1997, and fell again to $295 million this year.

With a carry-over of $35 million from 1997, there is actually about $330 million available for the study this year, or slightly less than $1 million a day. The Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, the branch of the Energy Department that oversees the study, also received $7 million this year to study the storage and transportation of nuclear waste from other states, and $44 million for administration.

Most of Yucca Mountain's financing has come from the Nuclear Waste Disposal Fund, which includes contributions from the nuclear power industry through its customers at a rate of one-tenth of a penny per kilowatt hour of electricity.

From 1983 through Dec. 31, about $8.5 billion was paid into the fund, with about $2.2 billion still owed by the industry for that period. The fund also has accumulated almost $3.3 billion in interest.

Illinois, with a nation-leading 13 licensed commercial nuclear reactors, has paid the most into the fund. As of Dec. 31, that state contributed $827.8 million and owed about $700 million.

Pennsylvania, with nine reactors, and South Carolina, with seven, rank second and third, respectively, in both the number of reactors they have and the amount they've paid into the fund.

The three states account for more than a quarter of the nation's 110 licensed reactors.

The Green Scissors report warned, however, that "early reactor closures and inflation have eroded the fund, while costs of interim waste storage may be added."

The remaining Yucca Mountain financing comes from federal taxpayers through the Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal fund for costs associated with nuclear waste at weapons-related facilities managed by the federal government. From 1991 through this year, Congress allocated about $915 million to the fund.

The biggest chunk of Yucca Mountain money -- about $640 million -- has been spent determining the mountain's composition. Scientists want to know how the mountain is affected by climate, water and changes in the Earth's crust. They also want to know whether the site is vulnerable to "inadvertent human intrusion."

The next largest allocation, more than $430 million, has gone toward the Exploratory Studies Facility, which has allowed scientists to conduct experiments inside a mountain tunnel five miles long and 25 feet in diameter.

Other major expenditures have been for project management, and for planning to ensure that Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements are met. Those requirements must be satisfied for Yucca Mountain to be licensed as a repository. More than $140 million has been spent on planning for the proposed repository and the packaging of nuclear waste.

Another large budget item has been financial and technical assistance to state and local governments and the University of Nevada system to help monitor and comment on the Yucca Mountain project. In this fiscal year, Clark County and nine other counties affected by the project are sharing $5 million. The other counties are Churchill, Esmeralda, Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Mineral, Nye and White Pines in Nevada, and Inyo in California.

But Congress stopped funding the Nevada Agency For Nuclear Projects two years ago. The agency, which monitors the Yucca Mountain project for the state, had received $5 million to $7 million annually in federal money through fiscal 1995; now it must rely on funding from the Nevada Legislature.

The General Accounting Office reported in 1996 that the state agency "inappropriately used" $697,000 in federal funds on public relations. But Bob Loux, the agency's executive director, argued that those expenditures were allowable.

A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected the state's argument that Congress violated federal law by cutting off its funding. The state has asked for a ruling from the full court.

Loux said his eight-person staff is existing on the federal government's fiscal 1995 allocation. But a preliminary federal audit that once again charged Nevada with misuse of federal funds caused the Energy Department to freeze $691,000 of that money that the state intended to spend this year. That left Loux's office with only enough money to survive until July 1.

The State Board of Examiners, made up of Gov. Bob Miller, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and Secretary of State Dean Heller, came to the rescue last week by approving $1.2 million in contingency state funds to keep the office open through March 1.

But that funding also must be approved by the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee, which meets June 23. Up to now, the state has been providing only about $35,000 to $50,000 per year, which Loux has used to educate national environmental groups on Nevada's anti-dump position.

"If we don't get the money from the Legislature, we're going to have to go out of business," Loux said. "I don't think it's possible for any of the counties to approach the level of review of the program the way we have.

"The state would be left without any effective voice on the Yucca Mountain issue. Certainly no one would be around to assess the social and economic consequences statewide if the project goes forward."

Repository opponents believe the state's voice should be stronger than ever as the DOE begins to prepare a series of key reports that are due over the next four years based on deadlines set by Congress.

The first, a viability assessment of Yucca Mountain that must be submitted to lawmakers this fall, will provide a proposed repository design and estimates of the cost to store nuclear waste there. The report also will disclose the prospects of the site meeting licensing requirements set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

A draft environmental impact statement is due July 1999. The final version, which will include comment on the transport of nuclear waste from other states, is due the following year. A draft site recommendation is due in 2000.

If the site is found suitable for nuclear waste, the secretary of the DOE will recommend it to the president for approval in 2001. Providing the site is approved, the government in 2002 will request a repository license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Nuclear waste storage could begin by 2010.

Dennis Bechtel, manager of the Clark County Nuclear Waste Division, is concerned that the reports will be forwarded to Congress without sufficient input from his staff.

"We want access to the viability assessment documents that are being released to Congress," he said. "We want access early enough to make comment. The viability assessment will disclose if there are any major problems with Yucca Mountain. Our concern is that Congress will misconstrue the report and determine that the site is OK.

"We don't know how the Department of Energy will take our technical comments. They could be downplayed. If a draft document comes out and they say there are no concerns, we have limited time to respond to that."

Bechtel isn't likely to get his wish, however, because Benson said the viability assessment wasn't intended to include public comment. He said local officials will have to wait until the draft environmental impact report for an opportunity to make comment.

"Clark County and all the other impacted counties get oversight funding to build a knowledge base so, presumably, they shouldn't have any surprises," Benson said.

Most of the funds used in the Yucca Mountain study have gone to private contractors who report to the DOE. None of the major contractors will grant interviews with the media, leaving Energy Department spokesmen to answer all questions. But some contractors have websites on the Internet that offer tidbits about their work in Nevada.

As of last month, the study employed 1,726 people nationwide, including 83 from the Energy Department. There were 152 workers at Yucca Mountain.

The biggest private contractor is TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc., a subsidiary of TRW Inc. of Cleveland. With more than $251 million in contracts this fiscal year, the company is in charge of the engineering, design and management of the Yucca Mountain project.

TRW has served in that capacity since 1991, when it signed a 10-year contract with the Energy Department that was estimated at the time to be worth at least $1 billion.

TRW, which began as an automobile valve maker at the turn of the century, bills itself as a global manufacturing and service company involved in the automotive, space and defense markets. As big as the Yucca contract may appear, it is only a part of the company's reported $2.8 billion in sales in last year's fourth quarter.

As part of the company's website on the Yucca project, TRW Environmental Safety Systems boasted that it was "on a mission to save the planet."

With nearly $11 million worth of work, Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. of McLean, Va., is the project's second largest private contractor this year. Booz Allen, an international management and technology consultant, is in the second year of a five-year contract that will be worth up to $65 million.

The company helps with planning, provides information to the public and ensures that the project complies with government regulations. It also has worked with the Energy Department on environmental cleanup at thousands of sites.

Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego, the nation's largest employee-owned research and engineering company, won about $9.7 million in Yucca contracts this year to lend technical support. The company was involved in cleanup efforts following the 1979 accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, and the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil tanker spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound.

Another San Diego company, Jason Associates Corp., is in the second year of a four-year, $17 million contract to help prepare an environmental impact statement about Yucca Mountain. The company's $5.9 million contract this year made it the fourth largest among private contractors.

Other companies with large Yucca contracts this year include Kenrob & Associates Inc. of Leesburg, Va. ($4.5 million), and Bechtel Nevada Corp. of San Francisco ($2 million).

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